Antique Hand-Colored Engraving HOLBIEN EARL OF BEDFORD - For Sale

From "In His Majesty's Collection" published in 1812 by John Chamberlaine. "Holbein" printed in lower left and "Meyer" printed in lower right. Imitations of Original Drawings by Hans Holbein in the Collection of his Majesty. We have found out that this striking plate is hand-colored in a minimalist style, only in certain places; for the most part the colors are printed directly from the copper plates, some on pink paper. This kind of color printing, still in its early stages of development, was just as laborious as hand coloring, since the various colored inks were daubed onto the copper plate by hand with each impression pulled. Nevertheless it was an important step in the development of mechanical color printing with separate plates for each color, which took place in the 19th century. This is surely a page of one of the first books with color printing to reach America.Antique Hand-Colored Engraving of a Portrait of Francis Russell, Earl of Bedford by Hans Holbien. Published by John Chamberlain in a Volume Entitled. "In His Majesty's Collection". Original Antique Hand-Colored Engraving. Image: 5.25” X 7.5”, Paper: 9.5” X 13.25”.